Diplo Drops More M.I.A. Album “Details”

Earlier last fall, Diplo was the first to drop a few deets about M.I.A.’s forthcoming third album. His “description,” however, didn’t quite paint a clear picture: “It’s like Gucci Mane meets Animal Collective.” Hmm. Now with summer festival dates on the way, and speculation of a June/July album release brewing, Diplo has dropped a few more somewhat cryptic comments for us to obsess over.

“It’s sort of like an Animal Collective/gospel/giant-drum record,” he told MTV at SXSW last week. “And she’s singing on it. I think you might expect some rap/club music, but nothing on there. It’s more of a heavy record. All kinds of different sounds. We did, like, a punk thing. … It’s weird.”

That makes for a decently ambiguous MySpace genre tag, I suppose, but Diplo isn’t done teasing us: “It sounds like some Wall of Sound, Motown kind of thing,” he said of a song he just wrapped called “Tell Me Why.”

Man, Phil Spector goes to prison and his Wall of Sound is back! Not that we’re complaining.

Meanwhile, we finally have specifics for M.I.A.’s upcoming concert in New York City (there’s one scheduled for LA, as well). According to an email from HARD, M.I.A. “& Friends” will perform on two stages on Governors Island from 5PM to 1AM on July 24th. For tickets, go here this Friday at noon. Wonder who her “friends” might be…